With my scare the other day of my body being close to going into labor, I have done some serious thinking. Am I ready if she arrives sooner rather than later? What should I expect at the hospital and with the French administration?
I know what to expect in the hospital for a normal delivery but have not paid attention to information regarding complications. I never thought I could have one. My doctor and midwife ordered me to rest – limiting me to 30 min of walking around a day for at least a month. I am 32 weeks pregnant right now.
The other day when I went to the hospital for my monthly prenatal checkup, I had 9 contractions within 3 hours! I must return to the hospital if I have more than 15 in one day. My OB/GYN wants to be able to monitor me for at least 2 days and probably give me something to stop the contractions to delay delivery as long as possible.
My husband’s family assured me that it is not a catastrophe to give birth prematurely since she will most likely be able to survive. But I know there are risks involved, such as the baby having long-term health or mental problems. Even if the risks are low, I would prefer to avoid them.
I scanned over some literature I received from the hospital and it states that if the baby is born requiring long-term hospital care, then we will be transferred to a level 3 hospital. My hospital is a level 1, which means that it can handle deliveries and complications but is not equipped for sustained care.
The social security also awards additional weeks of paid maternity leave in the case of complications. Instead of having paid maternity leave starting 6 weeks before delivery and ending 10 weeks afterwards, it would start when the baby is born and end 10 weeks after her scheduled delivery day. So if I deliver 8 week early, I would get the total of 24 paid days of maternity.
As I look around my house, I do not feel ready yet for her to come home. We already purchased or received everything we need for her, so in that sense we are ready. I need to finish washing all the clothes given to us and run the new cloth diapers at least 5 times in the washing machine to gain absorbency. I also need to clean all the baby items we purchased because they have been sitting around collecting dust.
It is difficult for me to go around cleaning right now, as if I am up too long I can feel the pressure from the baby. She is really pushing at the door ready to come out. Maybe she does not want to miss the few days of good weather here in Normandy!
My husband keeps telling me to relax and rest – he will take care of everything. I am just too impatient right now! I even already packed my overnight bag. I just hope I will not need it for another 8 weeks.
Image Credit: Crystal Kirk at Fotolia.com
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